


take me home (someplace i've never been before)

by centreoftheselights



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Catharsis, Comfort, Crying, F/F, Intimacy, Kissing, Post-Fight, Post-Season/Series 01, Recovery, Sharing a Bed, Spooning, Trauma, happiness, hurt/comfort without the hurt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-01
Updated: 2016-12-01
Packaged: 2018-09-03 14:03:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8716705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/centreoftheselights/pseuds/centreoftheselights
Summary: After a major battle against the revenants, Nicole takes Waverly home with her.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was my second attempt at Peace and Positivity 2016, and I'm not sure it went any better than the first. I tried.

It's over.

It's over, and somehow no-one is dead.

It's over, and Waverly is exhausted.

Wynonna, Doc and Dolls are still arguing, about some detail that Waverly is too tired to care about, or possibly just because they enjoy arguing. Waverly is trying to decide if she's prepared to get in the middle of that in the hopes of persuading Wynonna that they should go home when Nicole comes out of the police station, smiles at her, and walks over.

“Hey!”

Waverly smiles, because her heart still skips a beat every time she sees Nicole's face.

“You done giving your statement?” she asks, then kicks herself because _of course she's done, why else would she be leaving_.

“Yeah, I was just about to head home. I'm about ready to crash… and it looks like you are too. Why are you still…?” Nicole looks around, and sees the heated discussion happening across the street. Doc and Dolls are invading one another's personal space in a fairly major way. It does not look like they are even close to being done, unless perhaps one of them shoots the other.

“Oh.”

“Yeah,” Waverly agrees with a sigh. Perhaps she should just find a bench to nap on.

But to her surprise, Nicole takes her hand, looking suddenly serious.

“Waverly,” she says. “This might be a bad idea, but after everything that's happened, I want to be with you. Come home with me.”

It's too much.

Those words must be written on Waverly's face in large print, because Nicole instantly looks apologetic.

“No – that came out wrong! I just meant – to sleep together. Like, sleeping, in a bed, with our clothes on – not that I wouldn't want to, but I wasn't suggesting _right now_ –”

Waverly bites her lip to keep from laughing, and squeezes Nicole's hand.

“It's okay,” she says. “Yes, I would love to go to your place.”

Nicole beams at her, and Waverly's heart feels a little lighter.

“Do you need to tell…” She gestures at Wynonna and her boys.

Waverly looks over there, trying to steel herself to interrupt – but before she can move, Doc looks over and catches her eye. He nods at her once, slowly, then turns back to the argument.

“No, we're good,” Waverly says. “Let's go.”

 

“Kitchen's on the right here, my bedroom's through there and the bathroom is on the left.” Nicole points out the relevant doors. “First off, why don't you go take a shower?”

“Are you saying I smell?” Waverly teases.

Nicole grimaces a little. “You kind of have some mud in your hair. At least, I hope it's mud...”

“Okay, point taken. You got a towel I can use?”

“There's a spare in the cupboard under the sink. Although you might have to use my toothbrush.”

Waverly stumbles her way into the bathroom and strips off. Her clothes, stained beyond any hope of repair, go straight into the trash. It's only when the first jet of water hits her that she really realises how dirty she felt, covered head to toe in sweat and dirt and other, worse things she doesn't want to think about.

Fifteen minutes and three shampoos later, she feels like a new girl. It's only when she steps out the shower and wraps the towel around herself that she realises she has nothing to change into.

Then Nicole knocks on the door.

“Yeah?” Waverly opens the door just a crack. Even though she's wrapped in a towel that covers much more than some of her favourite outfits, she feels strangely shy about letting Nicole see her.

“I've got some clothes for you out here if you're done,” Nicole says. “I'd like a turn, if you left me any hot water.”

Trying not to blush, Waverly opens the door and lets Nicole inside. At least she's chivalrous enough to keep her eyes mostly above shoulder level.

“Here you go.” Nicole hands her a bundle of clothes, keeping a second for herself. “You can head to bed if you want, but you should try and eat something first, okay?”

“Sure.”

Leaving the steamy air of the bathroom sends a shiver up Waverly's back, even though it's far from cold. It's the middle of the day, but Nicole has closed all the blinds and turned on the lights, so Waverly can almost kid herself that it's night-time.

She gets changed quickly into a pair of pyjama pants a couple of sizes too big for her, and a large hoodie with the words Nevada State College on the back. Thinking about what Nicole said, Waverly finds that she's hungry. She hesitates for a few moments in the kitchen before giving in and making her childhood favourite, a peanut butter and potato chip sandwich. The old, familiar taste, the soft warmth of the hoodie against her skin, and the strangeness of being somewhere new all feel like she's taking a vacation to a different life for a while. For a few seconds, she isn't Waverly Earp at all, just a normal girl spending a lazy day at her girlfriend's house.

When she's done eating, she wonders into Nicole's bedroom. She knows that normally, she'd be curious – probably snooping in drawers and searching for a secret diary. But today, she's just overwhelmed. She sits on the edge of the bed, staring across at Nicole's posters. Most of them are for bands she's never even heard of, or perhaps that she once knew and now doesn't remember.

After a couple of minutes, she hears the bathroom door open, and Nicole walks in. She's dressed in an old, faded T-shirt and pyjama pants, and her long, loose hair hangs damp around her shoulders.

Before she has a chance to think about it, Waverly is on her feet, kissing her.

It's like a fire has been lit inside her. She doesn't care any more about what people might say, or what the consequences might be. She only cares about Nicole, the curve of her shoulder and the dark, water-logged red of her hair, the heat of her breath and the sound of her quiet gasp as their lips meet. Waverly wants this more than she has ever wanted anything before.

She pulls Nicole into the room, pushes her back against the bed so her knees buckle. Takes a second to relish it – the look on Nicole's face halfway between surprise and excitement, the way she's spread out before Waverly like she's hers for the taking – 'cause she _is_.

Then Waverly climbs onto the bed, her knees straddling Nicole's hips, and pulls her up for another kiss.

Waverly can do this. She'd thought it would be hard, but her body is falling back into those same old patterns, the ways to move her lips and her hands and her hips, the ways to drive boys crazy. And maybe Nicole isn't a boy, but that doesn't mean the same tricks don't work on her, doesn't mean that Waverly can't play her like a fiddle if she wants to -

But when she reaches a hand towards Nicole's waistband, she pulls away.

“Waverly – Waves, slow down a second!”

Waverly pulls back, frowning. “What? Did I do something wrong?”

“Good lord.” Nicole rubs a hand over her forehead. “I can't believe I'm saying this but – are you sure you want to do this?”

Waverly freezes.

“'Cause about an hour ago you looked more scared by the thought of this than you do fighting demons, and now – I don't know, something about this doesn't feel right.”

Waverly can feel her heart beating in her throat, the sour taste of nausea rising inside of her.

“I thought you wanted this.”

“I do! Of course I do. But -” Nicole sighs. “Waverly, I don't want to be something you regret doing in the morning.”

Waverly feels disgusted with herself. She stands up, embarrassed.

“You're right,” she says, turning to leave. “I should go, I -”

Nicole grabs her arm, then lets go as soon as Waverly turns back to her.

“I didn't say that. Come here.”

She pulls Waverly down to sit beside her, then cups her face and kisses her gently, almost tenderly.

“Sorry,” Waverly whispers as she pulls away.

“You've not nothing to be sorry for.”

They curl up on the bed together, kissing gently and talking in soft voices. This is something new, something none of Waverly's boyfriends ever wanted – the two of them, pressed tight against each other on a too-narrow single bed, sharing secrets and kind words and loving touches and nothing more. It almost scares Waverly, but at the same time she wants it never to end.

At some point they pull a blanket over themselves, and then Waverly rolls over, and Nicole turns off the lamp, and somehow they are moving towards sleep. It feels like this is how sleeping was always supposed to be, the low light of the afternoon shining through the blinds and Nicole's arm thrown over the curve of her waist.

And it's then, just on the edge of falling, that a thought jolts Waverly back to reality. Suddenly she finds herself gasping for breath, trying to keep her shoulders from shaking.

“Waves?” Nicole asks sleepily. “What's wrong?”

“Nothing!” Waverly says, but she can hear her voice is too bright. She tries to wipe away the tears on the sleeve of her hoodie, but they keep coming in spite of her.

“Hey, hey, babe.” Nicole kisses the back of her neck. “It's okay, whatever it is. Talk to me.”

“It's nothing,” Waverly says again. “Only – even after everything, I think this might be one of the best days of my life.”

It's a lie. She's damn _sure_ that it is.

“Oh,” Nicole says softly. “Well, good. 'Cause it's definitely one of mine.”

That brings fresh tears, hot and joyful, prickling at Waverly's eyes, and she hugs Nicole's arm tight.

“Although,” Nicole adds thoughtfully. “I have high hopes for tomorrow.”

“Me too,” Waverly says, as fervently as a prayer. “I can't wait.”

 


End file.
